Meeting the Queen!

The ultimate honour has to be meeting the Queen...in fact when I received the phone call I'm pretty sure I did a little dance and think I may have even punched the sky. It was a good day.

This beautiful invite arrived shortly after (and no I'm not a 'Mrs' but never mind huh!).



In her Diamond Jubilee year the Queen has many royal engagements. One of the first to start the season of celebrations was a trip to celebrate the regeneration of Piccadilly and to open the new Tea Salon in Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, attending with both their Royal Highnesses Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. As this was their first ever public outing together as three generations on a 'shopping trip' press attention was high.

In the run up to this special year Fortnum & Mason have really gone to town with the decorations inside and out, with brightly coloured heraldic motifs suspended from a musical stave. The store looked stunning.



I was the first of the eleven QEST (Queen Elizabeth Sholarship Trust) craft scholars presented to the Queen. We were given the opportunity as the QEST exhibition inside the store coincides with the Diamond Jubilee tour. Thankfully we were briefed before hand on what to expect and how to behave; we could choose to curtsey or dip and greet her as 'Good Morning Your Majesty', followed by 'Ma'am' thereafter.

It was quite surreal, I shook her gloved hand and tried to get past in my mind how much she reminded me of my late grandmother, my family have always said there was a striking resemblance and strangely enough I think it was this that helped to put me at ease.

The Queen asked me how the QEST award benefitted me, what training I have undertaken, where abouts my workshop was based and if the Peacock Bangle that was displayed on the plinth were in fact real feathers...which they are!

I was lucky enough also to talk to Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, her first words to me were 'I've just been reading about you' which certainly took me by surprise!

It was a fabulous day with a very happy atmosphere. All three members of the Royal family were presented with personalised Fortnum & Mason hampers which included dog treats for 'happy hounds'. Alongside that stood a stunning eau de nil, white and gold cake, decorated with golden sugar flowers, hand painted heraldic motifs and the words 'Jubilation, Exultation'.

Note:photographs are a combination of professional and my own. If your photograph is used here please do get in touch and I will add the credit here.